Sri Lanka wages to rise as unemployment falls: official

Nov 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan business should be ready to pay higher wages as unemployment had come down, and youth becoming more educated and eager to find jobs abroad, a top Treasury official said. And better educated youth were seeking jobs abroad. “Also, our labour market is no longer only here,” Jayasundera said. […]

Sri Lanka beachfront investment next week: Treasury Secy

Nov 24, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is expecting up to 500 million US dollars of investments on a key beachfront re-development in Colombo with the first project to take off as early as next week, finance ministry secretary P B Jayasundera said. Development of the Galle Face area, Colombo’s most prominent beachfront, is part […]

‘s top lenders in 2010; China, capital markets

Nov 24, 2010 (LBO) – China has become Sri Lanka’s top bilateral lender up to September 2010, displacing Japan both in commitments and disbursements, but international capital markets dwarfed traditional lenders via billion dollar bond a month later. The government was now sitting on an aid pipeline of 6,968 million US dollars which included 1,156. […]

Sri Lankan firms can sell rated debt to foreigners: Central Bank

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan firms can sell corporate debt to foreign buyers provided the securities are rated and not priced over 200 basis points over the benchmark sovereign yields, Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said. Sri Lanka has a pegged exchange rate which could result in excess capital flows, if the country […]

Sri Lanka stocks close down 0.9-pct

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks closed down 0.95 percent Tuesday, with low institutional and high-net-worth individual interest shown in the market, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 6,454.18, down 0.95 percent (61.62 points) while the Milanka index of liquid stocks dipped 1. 38 percent (97.55 points) to close at […]

Bank Rates

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan banks should provide more long-term loans and tax cuts in the government budget for 2011 are meant to encourage longer maturity lending, finance ministry secretary P B Jayasundera said. Key sectors of the economy like tea and rubber, where cultivators must wait several years for the first harvests, […]

Open Exchange

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has allowed residents to buy stocks abroad and foreign investors have been allowed to buy into local corporate debt and insurers have been given permission to invest up to 20 percent of their reserves abroad. The exchange control relaxations are in effect from November 22, the government said […]

Nail Claim

AMMAN, November 22, 2010 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan maid who said she had swallowed nails did so to pin the blame on her employer in Jordan and be sent home, recruitment agency officials said in the Jordan Times newspaper on Monday. “We have asserted that the helper™s accusations were false and she had confessed […]

Grave Probe

November 23, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Tuesday began investigating a claim that Tamil Tiger rebels executed 26 captured government soldiers at the height of fighting between the two sides last year, an official said. Military spokesman Udaya Madawala said forensic experts and police investigators had been sent to the northeastern district of Mullaittivu Monday […]

Tele Tax

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – A change in telecom taxes in the 2011 budget where a 20 percent flat levy replaced a series of earlier taxes can result in lower bills for users, a telecom analyst said. “So even users of international calls may not be very much affected. ” Before the budget, a series […]

Telecom Taxes

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has imposed new taxes on telecommunication including a 20 percent tax removing some of the existing ones, a regulatory license fee equal to 2. 0 percent of revenues and has also imposed a new tax on international calls. From July 2011 the minimum call rate of 2. 0 […]

Sri Lanka allows electric cars, hybrids duty free

Nov 23, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has made electric and hybrid cars duty free, while value added tax and rates of depreciation allowed for used cars has also been increased, a budget for 2011 said. The government will also allow state workers and state corporation employees to import cars at a lower duty. A […]

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